The Times That Natasha Needed Harry and The Last Time It Never Ended
by MachiavelliFAN
Summary: Natasha had one person to count on - Harry. SPOILER ALERT!
1. Chapter 1

The first time Natasha saw Harry, she was amazed. He moved with the grace of a panther and that only increased her suspicion of him. She was in a bar full of rowdy cowboys that wanted this drink or that. Natasha knew she had gone against protocol and could just hear Fury's ranting about how she stole a quinjet just to go get a drink. After the Loki incident, Natasha needed some space and apparently Clint agreed because he wouldn't even look at her anymore.

"So, what happened to you? Lost a partner?" Natasha looked up at Harry from under her eyelashes. He gave her a kind smile and grabbed a bottle before shaking it up and mixing a few other drinks with it. Natasha wondered what he mixed because it smelled simply marvelous when he put it in front of her. She hadn't answered his question and she also didn't want to drink the fruity looking drink. "Relax, it's not poisoned or anything. You spies must really have some horrible enemies over drinks." Natasha stiffened, ready to leave at a moment's notice that Harry was really dangerous.

"How'd you know I was a spy?" Natasha twitched; she just admitted it. Harry snorted. "It's written all over your face." Natasha raised an eyebrow, openly doubting him. "It's also because you look like one and I don't mean physically." Natasha took the fruity drink that smelled like dragon fruit up close. She turned it in her hands and noticed a metallic shine to it. "You're in a bar that is basically the epitome of an old southern tale. There are no women at this bar because only men drink in this town. It's one of the last places you'll find chivalry." Harry drawled in his English accent. Natasha smirked and finally took a sip of the drink. It had a surprising taste because it made her wonder if it was vodka before the flavor set in and it turned out to be some sort of wine and tequila mixture. It was perfect for her personality.

Natasha parked the quinjet in some stretch of secluded land and camped out in the jet for the night. She didn't feel like suffering the flight back to New York so she simply stayed. Sooner than she wanted, she felt herself awaken and it caused her to blink several times. She couldn't have drunk too much because that was impossible. What made her sleep so heavily for the first time in almost 30 years?

Harry was cooking pancakes behind the bar when Natasha saw him again. "Hey sleepyhead." He called out as she crept in to the bar. She was surprised. She didn't think he had heard her. Natasha stayed silent however and simply watched him. She didn't know what drew her to him. It was odd – as if something was missing from her and she desperately needed him to fix it for her. Natasha shook her head. That was plainly crazy.

The hot pancakes with raspberry syrup made her hungry and Nat was surprised again. It seemed as if she was being constantly surprised by Harry. His body language (dangerous) made her think twice about him which caused the surprises. She expected one thing and he did another. "Eat, it'll make you feel better." Nat looked at him as he smiled wistfully. She picked up the fork and carefully tested the syrup. Harry rolled his eyes at her and just nudged her to eat before he went to clean some tables. That was the beginning of their friendship.


	2. Chapter 2

After Bruce left Natasha after the battle with Ultron, Nat flew back to that rowdy little bar in the middle of nowhere to see Harry. She wanted to drink until her head spun or at least until she passed out. Harry welcomed her back with a smile. They hadn't seen each other outside of T.V. for almost two years, what with Shield's collapse and Ultron. Harry looked a little pale but Nat dismissed it as just the lighting. Nothing had changed too much since she was last there and that somehow comforted Natasha. Even if the world was invaded by robots or aliens or who knows what else, this rowdy little bar would still be here and that assured Nat that somethings were just going to happen.

Nat drank the same drink as last time except this time it had a name – the Widow's Bite. Natasha looked at Harry when he said the name softly to her while smirking. She noticed again that he was a little pale and his eyes were a bit more tired. She smirked back at him. Nat wondered how it felt to age, to have a family. Just like that, the whole story of Steve, Sam, Bruce, Ultron, Tony, and Clint all came out. Harry withstood it and listened with an open mind and Nat felt like she could breathe again. Clint had his family and Nat had Harry. In a way, she was glad that Bruce had left her and went his own way because she doubted that she would have come back to Harry otherwise.

Harry was leaning on the counter with his back to her when she walked in the next day. He didn't notice her for a moment so she cleared her throat and he turned around slowly, as if he were avoiding a fainting spell or was dizzy. He smiled brightly at her, though and she noticed that it only made his appearance marginally better. "And here I thought I was the one who was drunk last night." Harry chuckled at Natasha's dry wit and quickly made his way to the stove to whip up some breakfast for her. As she started eating, she noticed that Harry had turned away from her. She frowned at his odd behavior and noticed that he was shaking.

"Harry? Are you alright?" Natasha asked, abandoning her large breakfast of three waffles and fruits. "Y-yeah, I'm fine, why wouldn't I be?" He swiftly turned around, trying to give her a reassuring smile, but failing miserably. "What is wrong?" She demanded of her best friend because somehow, between being drugged asleep with really good drinks and amazing breakfasts, Harry had become her best friend. The news that hit came with all of the force of one Hulk's punches. There was no way Harry could have possibly gotten cancer. Not her best friend.


	3. Chapter 3

"So, can you do anything?" Natasha asked impatiently. Stark just sat there looking like she'd shot him or something. "Fine, I'll go do something by myself." She stormed out and Stark finally woke up. "Jarvis, search up a Harry Black." Tony yelled before chasing after Nat. "Hey, Romanov, chill. I'll get your friend help." He said, unknowingly assuaging her fears. Harry could not die, not before Natasha wanted him to (which would be never) or before Tony could take the mickey out of Natasha for finally melting and getting a friend.

Natasha nudged her friend as he stood outside of the Avenger's tower just looking up at the tower. He turned to her and smiled briefly. Natasha frowned back. She could read Harry well enough to know that smile had hurt and he was aching something big on the inside. If Natasha ever had a mission that would clear her ledger, she hoped it would be to find the guy that cured cancer. As they rode the elevator to the penthouse floor, Natasha put her arm slowly around Harry, ignoring his flinch. It had been a while since she had done something like this for no reason but to comfort someone. Harry leaned his head on his shoulder, sagging. He used to be taller than her, but the cancer had made him shorter somehow, and Harry liked to joke that it was so he wouldn't be as far from the floor when he did fall.

Finally, they got to the floor where all of the avengers had gathered. Clint and Bruce had finally accepted her back. Bruce and Natasha were now tentatively dating and Clint liked to spar with her every now and then, but Clint sometimes took the jet to his family so that he could live with them for months at a time. There was no point to the avengers anymore, since Shield was ruined. Harry straightened up and walked confidently towards them. From the back, he didn't look anything like a man doomed to die a slow and painful death. Natasha knew Harry couldn't stand to be weak in front of people he didn't know.

"Hi, Harry Black." "Steve." "Bruce." "Clint." Here, Harry paused to look back at Natasha, running a hand through his hair. "Is that some sort of requirement?" Harry smirked slyly at Nat. She barked out a laugh and shook her head. Her teammates looked at her shocked. "I am Prince Thor of Asgard. You may address me as Thor." Harry smiled at the man and shook his hand briefly before turning to Tony. "Am I to assume that I have you to thank for my delayed meeting with Death?" He asked. "Tony, and yes, yes you do." Tony smirked back at Harry and Harry smiled.

"Well, then, I suppose those people riding up the elevator wouldn't be anyone I need to meet?" Harry asked Nat, he was getting rather tired. "Riding up the – what the? Jarvis?" Tony asked anxiously. "Yes sir?" "Who is in my elevator?" "It appears to be Agent." "Agent? What Agent?" "Agent Coulson." Jarvis answered promptly. All of the Avengers looked at each other in shock. "What the hell is going on?" Steve asked. At that moment, the elevator doors opened widely. Standing in the front of a group of people was Phil Coulson.


	4. Chapter 4

"So, this is the welcome a guy gets after coming back from the dead?" Coulson asked drily. He looked at all of the Avengers and the strange black haired man who was with them. All of the Avengers were silent but each had some sort of weapon aimed at him. "Who are you and what did you do with Coulson?" Natasha asked coldly. "Stand down, Agent Natalia Romanov. I'm Phil Coulson, Director of Shield." "Right, and I'm Bruce Wayne." Stark said sarcastically. Coulson rolled his eyes at Tony. "You never change do you Stark?" He asked rhetorically. "I have trading cards for Steve, I trained you after Clint brought you in after Budapest, and I was there when Mr. Stark here was enjoying champagne with Ms. Potts, who then said, "I like being handed things." My memory might be a bit fuzzy, but I blame that on the old age." The Avengers and Harry stared at Coulson.

After everyone had gotten their piece out at Coulson and Harry was introduced along with Coulson's team, they all sat down to figure out what to do with Shield. They hadn't gotten far when Harry suddenly coughed and Stark and Nat remembered what they had been talking about before. Immediately, Nat led Harry to the bathroom and everyone could hear her apologizing to Harry in a low whisper. Harry pushed her away and smiled weakly. "It's fine. You should go. They are planning out what will help billions of people. Don't be selfish and worry about one." Harry said quietly, but everyone heard him.

"If I may ask, what exactly is the problem, here?" Gemma said softly, not wanting to break Nat's or Harry's stare down. Stark sighed and looked at Harry. Harry simply nodded. "I have cancer, blood cancer." Gemma looked saddened and both she and Leo exchanged sorrowful glances. "However, Stark here promised to help him, so get to it, Stark!" Natasha barked out, looking more like the Black Widow. "Well, hang on, I'm only in town for the weekend and all of you need to be advised of what is going on in the world underground, so I'm sure Harry could wait?"

Natasha glared at Coulson's suggestion. "Do you realize that we thought you were dead? Harry was there for me when you weren't. When you were too cowardly to realize that we needed you and that we would have accepted you back the moment you showed your face to us, Harry was there. He was there for me when you went off, creating your whole new team full of has-beens and rookies. He was there for me when even my team mates ran. Don't you dare suggest that Harry can wait, especially on the likes of you!"

May stood up and started to defend Coulson but Harry simple grabbed Natasha's hand and dragged her away from the rest of the team. The Avengers and Coulson's team all stared after the pair. "She's right you know?" Clint said, glancing at Coulson. "Harry's been there for her a lot more than we have." He said to Coulson. May glared at Clint. "It wasn't Phil's fault." "Right because he came back to us when we took Shield apart. No, he just went around the globe with you people doing god knows what and getting on the bad side of the government." Steve bit out, not fazed by the 'Cavalry's' glare. "Oh yeah, we've been paying attention to the news." Bruce added in. "Speaking of which, Hydra has risen out of the ashes once again." Coulson put in, earning everybody's glare. This was going to be one fun night.


	5. Chapter 5

"Please lie still, Mr. Black." Gemma said, soothingly as she placed various sensors around Harry. "Sorry, I just don't do well with hospitals." He said, apologetically. "Hey man, who does?" Stark asked rhetorically. "Jarvis, pull up the galaxy hologram and spread it out." "Coming up right away sir. Also, sir, Captain Rogers is requesting your presence." "Whatever for, I wonder. I'll be back soon, Harry." Stark said, climbing up the stairs to the main part of the building. Harry gasped as he saw the white walls get covered with stars and comets, shooting across the sky. "Wow. This is so nice of him." Harry said softly. Gemma looked around in appreciation, especially as the view of the galaxy calmed Harry down.

Gemma sighed and covered her face. Harry's test results were done and she knew he knew what was wrong. "What's up chickadee?" Stark asked. He came over to stand behind Gemma. "Whoa, nice screen saver. Is it interactive?" Gemma just sighed again. "Let me guess. This is not a screen saver and those are really Harry's cells attacking each other and themselves. Any ideas on the how and why?" Gemma shook her head. This was a medical anomaly that should never happen at all. "Harry was lucky that his bone marrow produced blood cells so quickly, otherwise he would have been dead a long time ago." Gemma said sadly. She had grown to like the young man. "Was?" Stark questioned. "His bone marrow is depleting. The cells are imploding before they even get to the blood stream. In fact, it is surprising that he isn't dead because some of the cells explode in his heart – which should be traumatic for his heart." Gemma explained.

Stark raised his eyebrows and looked at the man sleeping on his couch in the lab. "He seems like a nice guy." He said, surprised that he had said that. "Well, terrible things happen to good people every day, Mr. Stark." Gemma said, wiping away a tear. "Right you are. So, any ideas on how to stop it?" Stark said, shaking himself out of the depression. "Right now, I am thinking that if stop the cells from imploding, they will work perfectly." "Wait a minute, imploding cells isn't really something that happens in blood cancer." Gemma looked up at Stark's indignant face. "No it isn't, you are correct. I believe he has hidden something from us." "Ugh, you Brits. It means he lied to us." "Well, what would you call it then? 'My cells are imploding in my body and I am slowly dying in excruciating pain as blood circulation is cut off slowly.'" Gemma challenged. Stark simply shook his head and went to wake up Harry so that they could get the truth.

As he woke up, Harry realized he had fallen asleep on the couch and apologized to Stark. Stark waved it away, but before he could speak, Jarvis came on. "Mr. Stark, it appears Mr. Fury is upstairs with the others waiting for you. He demands your presence." "Tell him I'm busy with Harry." "Yes sir." Jarvis said. "Now, Harry, what is really going on in your body?" Stark asked Harry, sitting on the table in front of him. "Look, I have a really – " "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Stark! How in the seven realms did you find Harry James Potter?!" Fury barged in, interrupting Harry. The team was behind Fury. "Sorry Tony, I tried to stall him." Bruce said. Stark waved it away and looked from Fury to Harry to back to Fury. "Umm, I'm sorry if you haven't gotten the memo, but this is Harry Black." Stark said sarcastically. Fury shook his head and went for his phone. "This is Harry James Potter. He is also known as Lord Potter-Black." Fury showed everyone the picture which made everyone turn to Harry. "Explain, now." Natasha said, pointing to the extremely dangerous sign under Harry's name.


	6. Chapter 6

Harry sighed as he slowly got up from the couch and settled into a more defensive position. "You know how I can do weird things?" He asked Natasha. She nodded and motioned for him to continue onwards. "Well, at one point, I used to be able to do that and more. Thus, when I defeated a grand enemy of mine and probably the whole world, I was classified as dangerous. But, I promise you, there is nothing dangerous about me now." Harry said, pleading Natasha with his eyes. "And just how can we believe you?" Fury asked, suspicious as ever. "Well, it might be due to the fact that I'm dying." Harry said wryly. He had already accepted his fate and was willing to die. His only family was beyond the grave anyway. "Thank you for your efforts, but I don't think - no I know you can't solve this." Harry got up and stumbled his way upstairs while the rest of the avengers watched in shock.

"Stark, do you think you could cure him?" Fury barked at Tony. Tony deliberated on his answer for once. He knew he could try to cure him but Harry had seemed to accept his fate. He didn't want to provide the man with false hope. Tony also saw Fury's eyes. He knew that if he said he could cure Harry, then Harry would remain indebted to Fury and Shield. Tony weighed the consequences of being indebted to Shield and possibly dying and achieving peace. Tony made up his mind. Harry would just have to get used to having people care about him. "Yeah, I can cure him." Natasha let out a sigh of relief, but before anyone could ask her about her strange display of emotions, she was out of the door, chasing Harry down.

Natasha was not letting Harry go. No matter what happened, she was going to be there like he had been there when no one else was. They were partners now and Natasha had a strict no partner left behind policy. "Harry! Harry!" Harry stopped and turned around. "Hey partner, we're more alike than I first thought." Natasha said softly. "Nat...I'm not going to live long. Don't make this into something." Harry begged her. He didn't want her to feel bad after he was gone. "No way, silly. Tony said he could cure you." Harry stared at Natasha and she stared back.

"So, how is this going to work?" Harry asked, once again seated on the doctor's table in the medical lab. "Well, I think we'll get a few blood samples, analyze what went wrong, find a way to fix it, then find a way to put it in you." Tony listed out as Gemma took the blood samples. Harry yawned and Tony snapped his fingers. "Oh yeah! You'll have to stay here so the rest of the team is already getting your room ready." Harry went wide-eyed at that and Tony felt a pinch in his heart as he realized that Harry had never gotten this treatment from anyone else. What had happened to his family? "That's really not necessary. I'll just rent an apartment close by. It's fine." Harry argued. "And what about those days that you can't get out of bed and someone needs to watch you? It's convenient and we have plenty of room. Don't worry or argue." Tony said firmly. "Besides, I don't think Natasha will let you escape anyway." Harry smiled weakly at Tony's joke.


	7. Chapter 7

"Hey, Harry, how're you doing in there?" Steve asked as he knocked on their newest team member's bathroom door. Tony had hit a dead end trying to cure Harry's ailment, but he had refused to let Harry leave just because he couldn't cure him. Steve personally thought that even Tony had been pulled in by Harry's charm. There was something about the man that made him seem like a drowned puppy. Steve knocked again. There was still no answer and Steve began to worry. "JARVIS, get medical ready for me. I don't think this is going to be good. Also, tell Nat to meet me there." Steve broke down the door to find Harry lying in his own blood.

Natasha paced angrily through the hallway where the team's in-house hospital was. She didn't know how to handle this. According to Bruce, there was a high possibility that Harry was already gone because of how long the blood had stopped flowing to his brain. Natasha didn't want to face the possibility, at all.

Clint still remembered the time that Harry saved his life. When Harry first moved in, everything was odd because they had to watch their words about their top-secret missions. It caused a lot of strife between Natasha and Steve, actually, because Steve insisted that Harry wasn't a part of SHIELD and thus couldn't be involved with everything. However, that changed when the tower was attacked by one of Doom's bots and Harry saved Clint by deflecting a light-saber that was heading for his head. After that, Steve couldn't stop praising the man and everyone learned to love Harry in their own way. Clint thinks, though, that Harry won them over using his famous cookies that he baked.

Bruce came out of the room with blood on his coat. Natasha swallowed. "How is he?" She saw the rest of her friends - because that was what they were now - look up from their depressed positions. Bruce hesitated and Natasha recognized the classic doctor move to phrase the bad news in a good way. "The truth, Bruce. I want the truth." Natasha implored, looking into her boyfriend's eyes. "He's alive but he's in a coma and I don't know when he'll wake up. You have to know that it's his decision." Natasha's eyes watered but the tears refused to fall. "If he gives up, on me, on us, well, I guess he was never a very good friend in that case, right?" She straightened her spine and marched to the training room.

"Let her go." Tony spoke up as Steve looked after Natasha angrily. "What are you talking about?! Harry's a great friend! She can't mean that!" Steve yelled at the rest of them. "She doesn't mean it, Cap. Nat just can't face the truth yet. It's her way of coping." Clint spoke up, sounding tired and resigned that the next few months or however long it took Harry to wake up was going to be hard. Everyone bowed their heads in remembrance of their fast fading friend.


	8. Chapter 8

Meanwhile, inside of Harry's head, there was only darkness. Harry felt as though he was conscious through this darkness, however, and struggled to explore it. As he felt more and more lethargic, he thought back to how he had gotten here. He had been in the bathroom, where a mandatory privacy mode was available, when he had started hacking up blood. Realizing that his end was near, he slid down the wall and welcomed death. The pain was excruciating. He could feel his lung cells tearing, making it harder and harder to breathe. His magic was tearing him apart and he had no idea why. Finally, he succumbed to the darkness that he thought was death.

Although, Harry wondered, if he was really dead, how is it possible for him to be here, in this darkness, which seemed as though someone had just turned off the light?

"Then, turn the lights back on, Harry." A familiar voice replied his thoughts and Harry jumped at the suddenness.

"How do I turn them on?" Harry foolishly asked the voice, hoping for a reply. Hearing nothing, he thought about it. If it was magic, then pure will and intent should do the trick. Thinking on turning the lights on, he watched amazed as darkness gave way to light.

"Hey, there, prongslet." Turning around, Harry stood shocked at the sight of Sirius.

"Sirius? Does this mean that I'm really dead?" Sirius smiled sadly at his godson.

"No, Harry, you aren't dead quite yet. You're in what most muggles call limbo. It's the space between life and death and there's a reason why you're here." Sirius stopped briefly, struggling with the message he had been selected to impart onto Harry.

"I'm really sorry I made you die, by the way. How's mum and dad? Remus, Tonks? How's Fred? Is everyone okay? Tell them I'm sorry, would you, in case I have to go back? I'll probably see them anyway. Sirius I don't want to live anymore. I'm tired. My family is with you and mum and dad and Remus and Tonks and everybody else. I don't want to be alone." Harry poured out his thoughts to his godfather.

"First of all, you didn't make me die. You didn't make any of us die. Don't try to change our reputations by thinking that we all foolishly followed you. Damn it, Harry, I want the Marauders to be remembered as the final wall in the war. We love you and that's why we did it. You can't say that we died because of you. Secondly, your parents are fine, even if your mom is going bonkers over the bar tender thing and your dad is going crazy over why you haven't hit on that red-headed chick yet." Sirius dryly added after his passionate speech over Harry's misguided thoughts.

"Thanks Sirius, and who, Nat? Natasha's just a friend. She's my only friend I think." Harry replied, regretting his decision to leave his friend.

"No, she's not Harry. That entire team cares about you. They would fight and mourn and laugh beside you just like Ron and Hermione did. Let them in." Sirius pleaded with Harry.

"It doesn't matter anyway, I'm not leaving here alive. I'm going to die and be happy about it. Just like divination taught me." Harry joked sadly.

"Hate to break it to you, Harry, but that's not going to happen." Sirius said grimly (pun intended).

Harry stared at his godfather. How could he tell him that after listening to everything he hoped for by dying? What was going on?

"Well, for starters, you didn't die mortally. You died the Master of Death. That means that you can't really die. You would be stuck in limbo until your body fixes itself and then you'd keep on living." Sirius rushed out, trying to make it sound like an amazing idea.

"What? No, I threw away the Hallows! It doesn't matter! I don't want to be Master of Death! I want to die! I want to see you guys! I want to see my family!" Harry yelled at Sirius.

"Listen Harry, we didn't give our lives just to see you end yours so soon. You haven't lived and everyone knows you have to live before you die. You have a family, too. Not just this one but the one that brought you back to the tower and made you comfortable. You have the family that is currently at war with themselves about pulling the plug on your life support machine. You have the family that has tended to you while simultaneously saving the world. Can't you at least let them in?" Sirius begged his godson to hear him out. He didn't want Harry to die just because he thought he was ready. He wanted Harry to know that he was ready and that time wouldn't come for a long time yet.

"If I'm Master of Death, then I can call you anytime right?" Harry asked quietly, his eyes shimmering with tears.

"Just not when you're having sex." Sirius joked back, his own eyes wet.

"Fine. I suppose I can do that. See you whenever, I guess. Give everyone my love." Harry said, standing up and hugging Sirius.

"Nice timing there, prongslet, because there's a crony just about to rip out your life support cords. Have fun with your magic!" Sirius yelled, as he began to fade.

A bright, white light shone through the already bright area and Harry suddenly found himself on the other end of a gun barrel. Frowning severely at the black masked man, Harry checked his vitals in an old battle field way. His body ached but he also knew with complete clarity that his magic was back. Smirking at the oblivious crony, Harry reversed the gun and shot the man in the arm then snapped his fingers to tie up the man.

"Hey Jarvis?" Harry asked at the ceiling.

"Yes, Lord Potter-Black?" Jarvis replied after a brief moment of hesitation.

"Don't tell Tony or the others I'm back. Just tell me where they are and I'll find them myself. Also, I thought we were past the formalities!" Harry yelled the last part as he jogged into the shower to relieve some of the pains.

"Of course Harry." Jarvis seemed resigned.


End file.
